Winter Games

"Revenge is a dish best served cold."-Old Klingon Proverb

Ebon, Wil, and Wolf’s experiences are described, rather accurately, in the previous posting.

Gabe and Builds-Boats are hitching to Spuzzum. Gabe was led to some baby squirrels and ate them. They also got a ride from Linda, a local, to a crossroads further into central BC. Gabe and Boats ate at a diner, after Gabe nearly had a small aneurysm when he realized that he had no cash to pay for food and that, effectively, he was broke, prior to finding the ATM out back. He bought a pie.

PawDiddle is hanging with Rodney, answering a call from Scylla. When their quarry goes to ground, they bail and buy drinks out in Burnaby, in the same place as Ebon and Wolf. They had already left when Rodney makes the connection, in regards to a scent recognition of the Lancasters which wolf made. Rod and Paw make their way back to the safehouse and events played out the way already stated (q.v.).

So Wil and I finally found Wolf Blitzer. We brought him back to the house and Wolf simultaneously impressed and pissed off everyone at the card table. I told him that if he bought everyone beer that he might make some friends. At the liquor store we ran into the glass walker “Rodney” and some other guy I vaguely recognize named “Paw Diddle”. We exchanged pleasantries and went back home.

Next thing I know they come fucking knocking on the door and Mister Unwordly Blitzer answered it before any of us could react. I didn’t realize ’til now that the glass boys, as broken and disoriented as they might be, would want to “take” Wolf for themselves. Finders fucking keepers, bitch.

Regardless, Rodney tried to snatch Wolf from our house arrest, which the kinfolk replied to with the threatening business ends of shotguns and sub machine guns. So at my advice, Rodney and Paw came inside and we had a chat. Rodney got all aggro and cavalier and began tossing threats at us. Since I told him I was under orders, I tried to calm him down by telling him I’d try to get Issac and G-Stinky to come over. I tried making calls again and whattayknow fuckin’ Macaroni Tooth actually picked up this time. Though he didn’t bring G-Stinky and Issac with him, which superbly pissed off Rodney. But fuck him anyway, he had already threatened to bring his glass walker cronies to MY FAMILY’S FUCKINGHOUSE. If he’s gonna cry about it, he’s just gonna make himself look like a little bitch. Paw seems like a good kid though.

Ebon and Wil have been on a wild goose chase trying to find Blitzer. They finally have a lead that he’s with Cocky Locky who might be around the UBC campus. After bumbling around for a while and giving the heads-up to campus security, they inadvertently alert Wolf with an Introductory Howl and a prowl around the Endowment Lands. Wolf replies and they find their more direct quarry, playing in the woods. They take him out for drinks and jerky.

Meanwhile, Wolf IS (or was) with Cocky Locky, hanging out with a bunch of Anarcho Dumpster-Diving Crust Punks. The Bone Gnawer elite believe that Cocky Locky put Wolf up to the home invasions which could inadvertently trigger conflict between the Gnawers and the Silver Fangs, which is why Ebon was sent on this mission. Ebon’s former Alpha, Jackie Saint, is also on the case. Things could get FUBAR. Wolf, however, has already strayed to the UBC campus, where he learned of the school’s Casino Night, taking place at Edgewater. He was ruminating on his odds when he heard Wil’s howl and ran to meet them. Having joined the New Danger Duo (The Trashcan Trio?), Wolf slowly unveils his thoughts and opinions of his varied city encounters and prepares to enjoy or despise his first Wheat Thin.

Oobick is off having naked time/Ingugaq training at the base of Mount Homathko, where he is tailing a wolf pack rumoured to be comprised of vicious Wendigo lupus. They strip him of his clothing and remove a talisman granted to him by Old Teacher, which, unbeknownst to him, strips him of his ability to take a shape other than Homid and otherwise is indistinguishable from Losing the Wolf. He tracks the pack through the snow for hours when the trail abruptly stops, as does the trail back home. Dispossessed of the Willpower to continue, he lays down in the snow to die. Suddenly, someone licking his eyeball causes him to jolt to attention and he is besot by an individual, perhaps Raven himself, for the privilege of eating his eyes. Upset and invigorated, Oob carries on, looking for the wolves, his clothes, and the talisman, all while this irritating weirdo prods him with paradox and plea to surrender his life and allow for his eyes to be eaten. Yum-O.

Gabriel meanwhile takes the first step towards reconciling with his wife, talking to her on the phone and agreeing to meet when he had figured out what they were going to do moving forward. Gabriel is then attacked by a vampire, Ilana, though he manages to send out a text message to Wally Groel, who shows up with a few other Garou ready to kick some ass, but the vampire has departed by the time they get there. Gabe has already had the first two drinks of Blood Binding, by the time they arrive. They then whisk Gabe away to a mountain hideout. In the morning Gabe decides to repay their kindness by fixing them a meal made entirely of natural edibles he finds on his walk. Unfortunately not being an accomplished woodsman Gabe accidentally picks highly toxic ingredients. After severely poisoning himself, Gabe falls into a hallucinogenic state where Raven comes to him and orders him to go to Spuzzum, this task Gabe is taking with deadly seriousness. Groel and Chang are suspicious and ordered to keep tabs on him but Builds-Boats finds Gabe’s visionquest endearing and re-introduces him to the Penumbra.

Scylla has been trying to hold things together on the home front, despite a forewarning from her uncle that Gabe may “disappear for his own good.” She cannot reach him but through Nuryevich and no one is being clear about where he has taken. She may have also put the Glass Walker rabble and Eleanor on high alert about his disappearance. In fact, she did.

Since old teacher announced that I would be his replacement he’s been teaching me the important things he does. Talking to spirits and drinking. This has not gone terribly well for me so far. Morning headaches, nightmares, and bitten by what is apparently a winter spirit followed a night of drinking and reciting names, and information about spirits. It’d be easier to remember I think If I were sober.

Just my luck, now he has brought me out to the woods, apparently I’m going to live with a wolf pack for a while. I’ve got a bad feeling about this. Why? Because Old Teacher asked me if I could kill a man, and hinted that I would find out. Too late to back out now the wolves have found me, I submitted to omega status and I got my cloths ripped off. It’s cold, I’ll have to put some fur on if I’m going to have a chance of living through this. It’s been a while since I’ve warn that form. This isn’t going to be an easy test I can tell.

Oobick gets beaten by a pair of Gnawers but Ebony intervenes. Oobick draws his gun, lose possession of it, and learns that it is unloaded when one of his assailants tries to shoot Ebony with it. Oob runs off, is caught, immolates one attacker ,and is then rescued by Tuna who drives his truck into Oobick’s other attacker. Oob jumps in and the two drive off, laying low for the weekend. Oobick spends some time learning the old language from Old Teacher and gets laid into by Tuna for failing to make the drop. On Monday, they are summoned to meet with important Gnawers to settle the matter of what happened on Thursday night. Oobick is revealed to be a dupe, at best, and after a harsh inquiry, is released to bring Tuna into the conversation.

Ebony is in trouble, too. He speeds off after Tuna and Oob but can’t match driving skills. He returns to the safe house, only to be reprimanded and placed under “house arrest” by Macaroni Tooth, who is waiting for him. Ebony is apparently a suspect in an assault against a drug dealer, in addition to being an interloper with ties to a disappeared Corax. On Monday, he meets with Fatass Ivan, Mac, G Stinky, and Isaac, to talk to the two Wendigo who were involved in Thursday’s assault in East Hastings. After a thorough reprimand, he too is turned loose.

Wolf is probably sulking like a sissy girl.

Wheaty Johnson just walks around, following patterns, I guess. He is at Oobick’s beat-down but then decides to follow on foot when it becomes a car chase.

Gabe spends the weekend in the hospital, having bullets removed. Before he goes to the hospital, he learns his family is staying with his wife’s sister in the city. He meets a surgeon named Dr. Adam Prenton who is either Fang Kin or full-blooded, telling him all that he knows. He learns from Adam that his home security service is a Kindred-owned business. Adam promises to get Gabe a proper, Garou security detail and to arrange an appointment with both Nuryevich, who seems to be in charge of Silver Fang security, and Abercorn. Gabe receives a call from his youngest daughter on Sunday night but does not hear from his wife or Veronica. When he leaves, he meets up with Scylla and goes to his office to meet with Dooley. He declines Dooley’s idea and Dooley attempts to blackmail him with photos of Gabe with a man revealed to be IRA, at the hockey game with Gabe. Dooley threatens to go to the RCMP and ruin Gabe’s life and is shown the door. He has an appointment with Nuryevich in the afternoon.

Wolf and Simon leave (as in, walk right out) the kennel and head to Gabe’s to get revenge. They make their way back to Gabe and, after casing the residence, make a plan to round up the inhabitants and destroy them. However, after tripping the security alarm and entering through a rear window, Simon is surprised to discover that Gabe is a werewolf. Apparently, Wolf failed to mention that part. Wolf at first attempts to execute the original plan but reappraises the situation when Simon calls off the hunt and the security officer arrives. Wolf attacks him when Gabe is shot and nearly kills the bastard before Gabe finally beats Wolf away from the body. Wolf expresses his unhappiness at having been shot and, when it is clear that his perceived friendship with Gabe is over, he sulks away.

Guy is still stuck. Doot de doo…

Ebony-zer tries to cover his ass with Macaroni Tooth, now that Guy has gone missing, so he heads to the Astoria. He gets the idea that the place is under surveillance and receives a harsh welcome from two enforcers, deciding then to leave. As he does, he notices a young Aboriginal getting ready to make a drop near the Astoria. Feeling that this is both inconvenient and dangerous, he attempts to talk the youth out of it but is ignored and the kid crosses the street, not making any drop he notices. Ebony issues a final warning but rouses the attention of the enforcers, who take Glabro and pursue them both.

Oobick’s first test is to make a deposit of one handgun in one paper bag into one receptacle on East Hastings. It sounds simple enough. He is spotted by Ebony, though, and has to abandon his plan, per Tuna’s instructions.

Gabe uses a Gift to cease a fight between his children and porks his old lady. Thinking he will be bedding down for a long winter’s nap, he dozes off, only to be awoken by the security alarm going off when Simon and Wolf break into his house. He saves his oldest daughter, downstairs this whole time, and takes Crinos to defend his family from the marauders. After several laughable attempts at what might be called “combat” by those unfamiliar with the form, he finally engages Wolf, only to find that the security officer has shown up and is now Delirious. A stable Willpower enables the officer to fire off a shot into Gabe’s body before Wolf mauls him. Gabe attacks Wolf from behind, fails miserably for the most part, gets shot again, and finally injures and castigates Wolf. He had intended to to kill him but Wolf’s puppy eyes and honest apology give Gabe pause. Now, with a petrified family upstairs and a barely alive security officer on his threshold, Gabe waits for the police. Suddenly, Simon approaches from the shadows and, quite formally, apologizes. Gabe accepts and casts him out, too. FOREVERALONE.

Gabe had yet another fight with his wife when she arrived and found out that a werewolf had been shot in their house. Needless to say, she is feeling unsafe. Gabe revealed having known Wolf from a meeting with The Hound and suggested that his family relocate to a cabin but she declined. Gabe promised to erect magical wards and whatever it took to keep them from harm. She seemed satisfied, left to get the kids, and is waiting for the all-clear from her husband. Then, Animal Control shows up and begins giving Gabe a pretty thorough interrogation. But when he is left alone, another member of the ACO team, apparently either a werewolf or kin, gets the skinny from him about what really went down, including that this might have been a Red Talon in service to The Hound. They bring wolf out on a stretcher and Alice, the leader of the Animal Control team, gives Gabe another course of questions, trying to suss out how, in her opinion, the wolf appears to have been shot under bizarre circumstances and opened a closet door by itself. Also, according to Scylla, Dooley and a “weird-looking” associate have arrived at his workplace and are waiting in his office for him to return. Scylla is busy trying to find a lawyer, which shouldn’t be too difficult, except Gabe wants one who is Garou-sympathetic.

Ebony and Guy met, promptly, as Guy went to Ebony’s safe house to look for a way to reach Macaroni Tooth. Ebony was there to see if anyone recognized Spire from the YouTube video. No one did but they did recognize TD Tower from the same video. When Guy arrived, the rest of Ebony’s housemates got the two of them to leave, given Guy’s evasiveness in regards to whatever message he had. But in the car, Guy told Ebony that he knew Spire, which piqued his interest. They head to the marina to find Roni but come up empty-handed so Ebony does some grocery shopping while Guy waits and watches. When Ebony comes back to the car, Mico and Shit-For-Brains are waiting to see what we wants and are initially defensive (and rude) to him. Then, Guy shows up so Ebony goes back to the store to get snacks for these two while Guy says what he’s after (but not why). They agree to tell Roni to meet Guy at the service entrance to the Astoria Hotel that night. This ends with amicable relations between all four parties involved and the characters are now headed to TD Tower.

Spire was killed with a silver flechette round from a point-blank shot as he tries to escape his own den. He was awoken by a group of killers who pinned him down, flakked him with silver dust to dull his Gnosis, and flushed him to a ceiling vent where he was finally shot to death. No one else in TD Towers is aware that anything else but routine maintenance was going on in Service Elevator Shaft Number One.

Oobick found himself caught in some kind of ritual apology sandwich when Tuna returned home and Old Teacher forbade him entry. After waiting in his car, Tuna came in, gave O.T. some money, and the screaming began, again. Oob swatted a large bird away from the oven vent as he made coffee. The bird turned out to be Guy, who had come to relay a message from Macaroni Tooth to Tuna, not O.T., as the old man expected. When Tuna discovered this, he was angry and has given Guy the message that, unless Mac can get the police off his back, Tuna is not interested in talking to him about the gangs. They all take a trip to the liquor store, where Oob makes the mistake of inviting Guy to talk about himself. The rest of the morning is consumed by Guy’s constant prattle, to Tuna’s irritation and Oob’s chagrin. Guy leaves upon returning to their house, presumably to speak with Mac. Tuna informs Oobick that the time has come for him to get a look at the United Nations.

Speaking of gun-toting thugs, after a grueling, three-hour workday, Gabe is rung by his private security company, who tells him his home’s alarm has been rung. Having spent the morning having his paranoia stroked by Scylla, who thinks The Hound didn’t make the late -night calls but worries about the rest of the “dinner party, he allows the officer to investigate, then heads home after the all-clear is sounded, taking with him his gun. When he arrives, he shoots ”/campaigns/winter-games/characters/wolfblitzer" class=“wiki-content-link”>Wolf as he jumps out of a closet. Recognizing him as he lies bleeding on the floor, Gabe shoots him again, this time Incapacitating him. Terrified for his reputation (and having shot an Endangered animal), he calls Van Police Chief Jim and admits to having shot a wolf in his home, begging him to keep the police out of his business. The patrol car from West Van is delayed but Animal Control is deployed, instead. His wife will be home in six minutes and there is a bottle of Colt. 45 and some McDonald’s on his floor. And the newspapers will want answers. Ha.

Wolf was having a great time, prior to being shot. He was hanging out with some wild and friendly guys who introduced him to malt liquor, crack, and took him on tour of the city, while extracting every bit of information from his head. They then deposited him at Gabe’s place, hiding his cracked-out self in a closet. They told him to hold out for his rich friend and to not come out for anyone else. When the security agent arrived, he remained silent while the man apparently talked to himself, describing the house, and then left.

Guy returned to his warehouse to find Fatass Ivan and Macaroni Tooth waiting for him. Macaroni informed him of the BG clearing out squatters in anticipation of a gang war and for guy to steer clear of both gangbangers, the homeless, and his own warehouse, apparently on pain of death. Macaroni also gave him a list of people to keep a watch on in the Burrard Inlet Reservation across the water who might have gang ties but who the Gnawers want monitored, anyway. Guy overnighted in his warehouse and then started flying around, trying to put locations to all of the wallets he took off the dead man from East Hastings. He was last heading for the Queen Charlotte Islands to match the last one before heading to the rez.

Oobick was interrupted by an otherwise peaceful night at home with his angry, drunken Elder when the police came to settle the issue between him and Tuna. Both Tuna and Oobick ran out the back, with Oobick hiding beneath a neighbor’s trailer until Tuna bolted again and took the police with him. Oobick took a detour back and, upon returning home, was taken in by the cops for questioning. At the station, he discovered that Old Teacher had been apprehended and the two spent some time talking about Tuna, destiny, and Oobick’s safety with Old Teacher. Oobick is now watching out for Tuna, secretly, just as Tuna watches out for him. Finally, Tuna’s cousin Suzanne paid Old Teacher’s fine and both men were released. As they left, Oobick recognized the youth he and Tuna had attacked earlier, now in police custody. It is unclear if he recognized Oobick. At long last, Oobick returned home and went to bed.

Gabe received a pair of calls from an unknown source, both with not but dead air on the other end. After turning off his phone, he detected yet another creepy call, this time from his oldest daughter’s phone. Finally, a small fight with his wife emerged, which produced a promise from Gabe that “the Office” would stay out of his home. His wife slept on the couch but his daughter’s don’t seem the wiser to the seriousness of their parents’ divide or the nature of those strange calls.

Spire spent his morning screwing off with a pathetically drunk Wolf, finally climbing a building as much for a vantage point to find the killers as to escape Wolf’s whining. He eventually went home to sleep and returned to find Wolf gone.

Wolf, abandoned by Spire and left to the elements, alone atop a building, in the freezing rain, is abducted by werewolves. Whoops.